10 Times Doctor Who REFUSED To Give Fans What They Wanted

What do Sarah Lancashire, Keeley Hawes, Michelle Gomez, and Barbara Flynn all have in common beyond being Doctor Who guest actors? They've also all been mistakenly believed to be playing a new version of the Rani in Nu-Who. Despite having only appeared in two stories (and the aforementioned Children in Need special), Kate O'Mara's performance is so memorable that the character has become beloved within Doctor Who fandom.

So much so that any female guest cast announcement has been met by fervent speculation that the actor involved will be playing the Rani. This reached a head when Michelle Gomez was revealed to be a female incarnation of the Master, rather than the Rani. "Why turn the Master into a woman when there's an evil Timelord female right there?", complained fandom.

Well, probably because the rights to the character were held by classic Doctor Who writers Pip and Jane Baker, who first created her. The husband and wife writing team are no longer with us, so it's unclear where that leaves the character now. Regardless of boring legal things like rights, you can expect to see Gillian Anderson's inevitable casting opposite Ncuti Gatwa linked back to the villainous Timelord geneticist.